University of Washington-Seattle Campus Top Questions

At the University of Washington, while we strive to be a diverse community, with the steadily growing number of international and out-of-state students, it's a common joke that the Asian population is the true majority, while everyone else, white people included, are a part of the minority. It's just as common to hear Korean or Chinese as it is English, and rice is a staple at every major food center on campus. Most of the international students want to become engineers or doctors, dominating organic chemistry and biology classes, thereby ruining the curve for everyone else! Asian students are also known for stinking up the dorm kitchenettes, frying up smelly fish and not wiping up the microwave after their kimchi noodle bowls explode in the microwave. Regardless, while some of their habits annoy the American students, we usually tend to agree that the money they bring in with their hiked up tuition payments is worth it. In addition to Asian students, UW has a large Greek community, and for those of us who are non-Greek members, stereotypes tend to run rampant: frat guys are grabby, drunk perverts who start pre-funking for a 7:30 PM football game at 8:00 AM. Sorority girls are no better; party girls who wear slutty outfits Thursday-Saturday nights and sleep with frat guys, intoxicated or not. Rush is rumored to be the most socially cutthroat and cruel experience a shy freshman can experience (a la the movie "Mean Girls"), with outrageous rules like no talking to boys AT ALL during rush, not even casually. At times, I tend to forget that the Greek community is a part of the UW community unless it's a football game because they tend to isolate themselves on Greek row so much. Also, on the UW campus, it's incredibly easy to spot a Greek member: for the boys, they wear crewneck sweatshirts, baseball caps, basketball shorts, and socks with Nike slippers. For the girls, it's a crewneck sweatshirt, with lululemon yoga pants tucked into uggs, and their hair is always pulled back with a headband. It's stereotypical, but sadly, kind of true.

It is a common mistake made by beginning University of Washington students to respond with smiles, compliments, and cries of 'good wishes!' to their classmates' declaration of 'I want to be a doctor/dentist.' Save your energy. There will be a never ending supply of such proclamations to give and one could be in danger of turning quite bitter after you hear your 19th 'well, you know, a doctor or something. I want to help people.'

It is a common mistake made by beginning University of Washington students to respond with smiles, compliments, and cries of 'good wishes!' to their classmates' declaration of 'I want to be a doctor/dentist.' Save your energy. There will be a never ending supply of such proclamations to give and one could be in danger of turning quite bitter after you hear your 19th 'well, you know, a doctor or something. I want to help people.'

is everyman or any woman! That seems like a cop-out as far as an answer, but any student at UW could tell you: the stereotype for a UW student is that they could be absolutely any one of a cliched category of person, or escape a label altogether. The University of Washington is like a small city, and you will meet as many types of people as you would in any city. There is a thriving Greek system, which supplies what some would call the "fratty boys" and "sorority sisters", pockets of intensely academic undergraduates in their varying fields, music enthusiasts, art kids, punks, new-age hippies, the fashion conscious, classic Seattlelites head to toe in rain gear and practical footwear, and regular kids looking to make friends of all types. The advantage of UW's large student body really shows when trying to find a dominant stereotype for it's students - you can't pick just one!

Because our school is so large, I can't say that one stereotype exists for the student body. However, people say that we are a party school.

This statement isn't true because the student body is made up of so many different races and ethnicity. At UW, I was able to become friends with people from small towns in Bellingham, exchange students from Russia and Europe, immigrants from Nigeria and Ghana, and wonderful people from all over the world. It's an amazing opportunity to be in such a diverse and culturally-rich place.

The UW is so big and well known for its programs and research in many different fields that there's just too many people to be able to classify any stereotypes.

Yep - there are a lot of international students that come to the UW's Seattle campus, especially from China, Korea, Japan, etc. There is a very large percentage of Asian students that study here.

Lots of Asians Commuters Lots of Frat kids Liberal

UW > WSU Seriously though, UW has a reputation for having smart students. This is true, many students are highly motivated and very smart. However, you'll always find people that slack off just enough to get by.